We have an influential and strong Fifth Column in America dedicated to our destruction and subjugation to Islamic law. Our most dangerous enemies are the Islamofascists, who want to destroy America and the West and substitute Sharia (Islamic law) for our Constitution and our laws. They are aided in this task by most of the Middle East studies departments and professors in other related departments established at our colleges and universities. Robert Spencer in his book Stealth Jihad, writes: "American universities have become propaganda centers not only for the anti-American Left, but for stealth jihadists and their allies — the apologists who are dedicated to lulling Americans into believing there is no jihadist threat."

We're at war with these jihadists and we better know their doctrine, history, strategy and sources of information. But tragically, the segment of America that should be able to give expert advice on the subject to our political leadership, other policy makers, and military the academic experts in Middle Eastern studies — can't carry out any such responsibility to give needed advice. Spenc er writes that instead of providing needed advice these academics have adopted a politically correct orthodoxy that values "tolerance" of non-Western cultures above the objective search for truth. The mere suggestion the jihadists — hatred for us is rooted in the Qur'an and other fundamental Islamic texts is simply not tolerated in academia. As a result, many Americans as well as policy makers continue to cast about in vain for a way to satisfy our enemies — grievances."

Our colleges and universities freely accept millions to finance Middle East studies departments and their professors from Saudis and others who know what they want to buy by their contributions and universities such as Columbia, Harvard and Georgetown freely accept such money ... and deliver what the donors want to buy. Yes, our great colleges and universities, such as Columbia and Harvard, have been reduced to intellectual houses of prostitution ... for sale to any high bidder. So Saudis and other jihadist-friendly donors can buy propaganda centers in the U.S. to undermine our nation.

The impact of this can be illustrated by the cheerleaders for Hamas, the terrorist organization, that can be found in Middle East studies departments and related departments all across the land. Cinnamon Stillwell, writing in FrontPageMagazine.com (an excellent source of important news typically ignored by the mainstream media), put together the pronouncements coming from these academics, and found, "If further proof was needed that the field of Middle East studies is marred by a politicized, morally vacuous approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the reaction of many of its leading lights to the current war in Gaza should suffice ... Hamas, they tell us, is not a terrorist organization bent on Israel's destruction, but rather a national liberation movement that seeks only the noble founding of a Palestinian state. Either that or its leaders, all evidence to the contrary, can be negotiated with and cajoled into moderation."

These academics throw the book at Israel — racist, colonialist, apartheid state seeking not to defend itself but to control the whole region. In contrast Hamas is given a free pass for its terrorism, aggression, violence against fellow Palestinians, media manipulation, use of human shields, and of schools, hospitals, U.N. offices, and mosques as bases from which to launch attacks.

Here are examples of what Middle East study departments and related departments of our great colleges and universities produce on this subject:

The noted racist and bigot, Hamid Dabashi, professor of Islamic Studies, Columbia University, a leading center of anti-Americanism, had to say on Hamas:

"The crushing of the Gaza Uprising and the slaughter of its defenseless population will be relatively an easy task for the giant Israeli military machine and Israel's sadistic political leadership. It is dealing with the aftermath of a strengthened Palestinian determination to continue t o resist Israel that will prove much more difficult for Israel and the Arab allies it deals with."

This is an attempt to portray Hamas as a band of innocents resisting Israeli occupation. First, Israel long ago withdrew from Gaza and the occupation (or whatever you choose to call it) ended. To be correct, there was never any occupation, as that would be the right term only if Gaza had been invaded by an illegal aggressor. In fact, Israel invaded Gaza as a result of Arab aggression and was an act of self-defense. Hence, it should be described as disputed territory. What's more there was no slaughter of a defenseless population. Israel carefully tried to avoid civilian casualties and almost all civilian casualties that occurred were the result of Hamas using civilians as human shields and as a result of Hamas hiding its military facilities in civilian locales.

Here's another terrorist-loving professor, Joseph Massad, professor of Arab politics and Intellectual History. This man is an all too typical Columbia University professor. He thinks that the "resistance of Palestinians" must extend to Israeli "civil institutions." In other words, he sanctions the international crime of murdering and slaughtering civilians. He also has insane and wacky ideas also perhaps typical of what goes on at Columbia. He wrote in an Egyptian newspaper that Zionism is behind anti-Semitism and the destruction of Jewish cultures and languages. The Zionists do that to get Jews to move to Israel. Massad also dismisses his critics as targeting him because he is pro-Jewish. This calls to mind the conclusion of Paul Johnson, the great English historian on anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. He says they are closely related mental disorders. And I'd add to that liberalism, rounding out the mental disorder triumvirate.

Here is the view of Muqtedar Khan, director of Islamic studies at the University of Delaware: "Israel and the U.S. are supposed to be democracies that care about human rights. But when they massacre hundreds of people and their citizens watch in silence, no protests, no shock, then there is something fundamentally wrong ... Unless we wake up and change course very soon, there may be no difference left between democracy and terrorism, and that will be the ultimate victory for terrorism."

One of the Middle East scholars at Ohio State University has to say on the subject. He is Professor Pranav Jani: "Hamas is a group that has grassroots backing from the Palestinian people. Hamas has been leading a resistance against a colonial occupation ... I think any resistance against a colonial occupier is justified ... I would defend Hamas as actually, you know, doing practical things to fight Israel colonialism." This is typical: Deliberately killing civilians is a war crime. The professor thinks it is O.K. to kill civilians in resistance to a colonial occupier. Israel is not a colonial occupier. The Jews who were awarded statehood by the United Nations have been in place there for thousands of years. And, as already indicated, they are now not an occupier in any sense of the term.

Consider the views of Professor Omid Safi of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: "Do they [Palestinians] not deserve to live without the constant fear of having Israel drop American-made bombs drop from American-made planes on their head." The good professor apparently was too deep in his ivy tower to know that this conflict started after Hamas sent 6,000 rockets into Israeli aimed for random murder of civilians.

How's this as an attempt to justify a terrorist organization committed to genocide and murder of civilians: "Hamas has been branded a terrorist organization by U.S. and Israel and much of the international community. I think that's very unfortunate ... Hamas is first and foremost a deeply rooted political organization with social and cultural and other dimensions to it. It was elected. It has come forward many, many times to negotiate a truce with Israel, including recently." That's from Beshara Doumani, associate professor of history at the University of California, Berekely.

Ms. Stillwell, a prolific and authoritative author on the Middle East, concludes, "The antipathy towards Israel and sympathy for Hamas demonstrated by these academics goes far behind mere bias. Acting as apologists for terrorists who purposefully seek to kill Israeli civilians, and singling out Israel, among all nations on earth, as not having a right to protect itself, is akin to fanaticism. The next time one of these "experts" purports to educate the masses on this most crucial conflicts, consider the source."

The public better not only understand the source, but also start pressuring colleges and universities to end the support of these Fifth Column Centers of bigotry, bias, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism. Two good sources of information on what's going on in our colleges and universities are two classic books by David Horowitz: The Professors and Indoctrination U. You can also get information on this issue at the Web site maintained by David Horowitz and his Freedom Center. The Center documents and comes up with programs to make colleges and universities get back to their function of teaching (not indoctrinating) and being in a disinterested pursuit of truth (not being centers for bigotry and bias and anti-American and anti-Semitic activity.

I also recommend you follow the work of two media watchdogs to get a good sense of how the mainstream media and academia are distorting the flow of information: The Media Research Center at www.mediaresearch.org, and Accuracy in Media at www.aim.org. There are also two excellent media watchdogs that focus on the Middle East: www.camera.org and www.honestreporting.com.

Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@thebulletin.us.

Note: Postings in "Campus Watch in the Media" do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch.